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Robert W. Lang
Thirst, not starvation, leads to weak glue joints. On my first day on the job as an apprentice cabinetmaker, my task was to glue together radiator panels for an office building. Two sticks of solid wood with tongues on one edge fit into grooves on the edges of veneered MDF panels. Eager to show that…
Judy Ditmer
Turning tools come in many shapes. Here’s how to keep those shapes sharp. Many years ago, I was cooking with a friend who was home visiting his parents during a college break. He struggled with a dull knife until he finally threw it down on the cutting board in disgust and declared, “There’s a $2,000…
Luke Hartle
Woodworking is sweet when everything fits right. Here are 10 ways to ensure your mortise-and-tenon, dado, dovetail, and edge joints close up tightly. 1. Cauls distribute pressure It’s not easy to get enough squeeze in the middle of a big box to force home dado or biscuit joints. Big cauls are the answer. A caul…
Bill Hylton
This traditional joint ensures the only cup on your tabletop will have coffee in it. The breadboard end is a traditional device for preventing a broad panel such as a tabletop from cupping. It is a narrow strip of wood that runs across the end of the main panel. Obviously, it must be attached in…
Paul Anthony
Old chisels can be brought back to life using these simple steps. If ever there was a type of used hand tool that was a good candidate for restoration, it’s a chisel. Lots of good deals on old chisels can be found at flea markets, garage sales and auctions. And while many old tools –…
Mike Burton
Cut completed boxes from a simple glue-up. If your shop is like mine, every horizontal surface collects stuff—the necessary minutiae of woodworking. It’s all good stuff, to be sure, but it can also create a real mess. Small drawers or storage boxes are the answer, but making them individually is a pain, because each box…
Tom Calisto
It’s surprisingly simple to make your own Stickley-style pulls. The simple lines and honest joinery of the Arts & Crafts period have always appealed to me. The fumed quartersawn white oak and the warm patina of the copper hardware add a wonderful effect to the overall design. But I have never been satisfied with the…
Asa Christiana
This live-edge coffee table is just the beginning of what you can build with a $20 doweling jig. Project #2302 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 4 Days • Cost: $400 This walnut coffee table is featured in my latest book, “Build More Stuff with Wood,” (see all the places you can purchase it here)…
Danielle Lowery
What is a CNC? Why might I want one & How does it work? Over the last decade, CNC machines have become a common topic in woodworking. Most know that they cut things out, but that’s the extent of their knowledge. If you had a stronger understanding of what CNCs are, how they can be…
Logan Wittmer
Linseed paint will change the way you approach painting a project, but this wonderful finish takes a different approach than modern paints. The world of finishes is a complex one. When I find a finish I like, I tend to stick with it. For the last several years, I’ve relied pretty heavily on both acrylic…
S. Loyd Natof
A Disposable Brush And A Few Rags Build An Awesome Finish. Finishing is a challenging aspect of woodworking. There are many finishing materials and methods of application; within a single piece there may be several conditions requiring different approaches. It is one thing to get a nice finish on a small flat sample board but…
Bob Flexner
We all have to begin somewhere, and this is actually the most difficult time. Years ago I remember teaching a class about finishing that included one student who said he had never used a stain or finish, and to make matters worse, he had never even painted anything. This was a two-day class in which…
Christopher Schwarz
Learn to set up and wield one of the most useful (and inexpensive) handplanes. Also check out: A primer on adjusting wooden planes. Kevin Drake, a furniture maker who trained under James Krenov, stood before his wonky-topped workbench one day many years ago and hesitated. His urge was to start flattening the benchtop by planing across…
Basic steps for beautiful joints. Dovetails. They get put on a pedestal as a sign of quality. And while not every project or furniture style warrants them, I enjoy sitting down, listening to an audiobook, and cutting them by hand. Once you break down dovetails into a series of basic steps, I think you’ll find…
The difference is more than just pushing or pulling. It’s been over 20 years since the Western handsaw, a tool that cuts on the push stroke and was the pride of the English-speaking world, was surpassed as the tool most woodworkers reached for when they need a handsaw. It has been replaced by the Japanese…
Pop Wood Editors
Accidental musing on craftsmanship and building things to last. On a cold rainy day in December 2014, I was returning home from running errands in my Washington, D.C., neighborhood. Diane Rehm was discussing Russia on NPR. I was thinking about the leftover pizza I was going to eat for lunch before heading into the shop….
Joinery machines are much more than one-trick ponies. Here’s an intro, and why you should consider adding one in your shop. There are several machines that come up as “shop necessities”. Table saws, jointers, planers, and band saws are the most common ones. In my opinion, there’s a new class of machine that needs to…
Brad Holden
When using my miter saw, I’ve found that the easiest way to sneak up on a line is to use a stack of sticky notes. First, set a stop block to cut your part slightly oversize (1/16″ is plenty). Attach a thin pile of sticky notes to the stop block, make a cut, and then…
I use a portable circular saw to break down plywood and other sheet goods into manageable pieces before bringing them to the table saw for final sizing. I prefer to do the job on sawhorses rather than crouching on the floor. Unfortunately, you normally need three or four horses to provide enough support to prevent…
The next time you use your jigsaw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the rigid pink sheets used in housing construction, makes sawing easy, whether you’re cutting a small piece of hardwood or a full sheet of plywood. During the cut, the workpiece…
Over the years, I have often clamped stops on my drill-press fence to register hole locations in workpieces. Unfortunately, I always seemed to lose the stops. Flip stops always seemed like a good idea because they stay attached to the fence all the time so you won’t lose them. Plus, they flip up out of…
Many of us are familiar with the technique of using a razor blade to scrape away drips from varnish and other film finishes. It’s a great way to level defects, especially if you use a brand-new razor. To keep the corners from digging in, you can bow a thin single-edge razor just as you would…
American Woodworker Editors
Wooden wing nuts are so much easier on your hands than metal ones. Plus, it’s a great way to use up shop scraps and leftover hex nuts while avoiding a trip to the hardware store. Start with a strip of wood that’s about 3/4″ thick, at least 1/8″ wider than the hex nuts, and long…
Tool: Scriber Buy Now Manufacturer: Tooley Park MSRP: £28 20% discount on the scribers this week (ends Sat 8th Feb) with the code TPF1 at checkout! There are often times, where there’s simply no substitute for the right tool. A good scriber is one of those tools. Whether its leveling chair legs, scribing a cabinet, or…
Tool: Stainless Steel Precision Rulers Shop Now Manufacturer: JessEm MSRP: $24.99+ The Canadian company JessEm, known for their high-quality router lifts, recently released a new line of precision steel rules. As you can see in the photo above, what makes these rules different than others is the laser-cut shapes in the center. These shapes are…
Tool: Magnetic Straightedge Shop Now Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $7.50 Don’t have a drafting table? Can’t draw freehand to save your life? Here’s a tool from Lee Valley that lets you easily make isometric shop sketches. The tool has two parts: a standard 12″ ruler with a matte finish and an innovative black straightedge. Seven…
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